The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-05-30
WHAT is YOUR OCCUPATIONS"
APractical Sermon Delivered to Young
Men bY Rev. ]. w. Rogan.

Men by Rev. j. w. Rogan.
The Rev. J. W. Rogan, of the First
Presbyterian church, gave the second of a
series of talks to young men last night. His
subject was, 1.-The Law of Labor, or What
is Your Occupationm
His text was from Genesis, Xvii. 5:
What is your occupationp
lie said that great many men are suffi-
GENTLY upright and honorable, men of
generous impulses and free from evil habits,
but they never accomplish anything. They
are those who think the world owes
them living, and that they confer a great
favor on the world by being in it; or they
are the Micawbers who are always waiting
for something to turn up, instead of going
to work and turning it up Viewed from q
positive point of view they are negative
characters. A foreigner was once asked in
what respect all men resembled one another,
and after thinking for awhile ne replied:
ME think all men love lazy " The speaker
did not think the foreigner was right, but
undoubtedly there were many who might
be so spoken Of.
AN APT ILLUSTRATION.
1t is strange, he said, how hard some
man will work to keep from working. He
read a story once of two Canadians, one
industrious and frugal, the other lazy and
the summer laying in supply of wood TO
last him through the winter. The other de
pended on stealing his neighbors wood,
III the cold weather. and it was
| estimated that the latter spent more time
| and did more work in waiting for opportu-
mites and stealing his neighbours wood, than
| it would have taken him to get his wood
| honestly. Naturalists tell of parasites that
| will not work even for their own food, but
| who attach themselves to other things and
rob them of their nourishment. No man
| has a right to be parasite He laid it down
| as the duty of every man to have an occu-
patton The Scripture teaches this
AN ERRONEOUS IDEA.
A great many think that work is a
| curse put upon man at the fall, but that is
| not true. After God made man He placed
| him in the garden to keep it. In the book
| of Proverbs labor is commended in the high
est terms, while idleness is severely con-
| demned The commandment saws, six DAYS
shalt thou labor and he thought it was Just
| as obligatory to work six days-a part of
! ones time-as to rest on the seventh. The
! man who has to labor is apt to envy the one
| who strolls 10y him carrying a gold-headed
cane or rolls By in a carriage, and he is dis
posed to think that if they could change
places he would be perfectly happy; but it
| was not so. No doubt if the labor could be
IL
his life as it is is far more pleasant than one
of idleness. He had referred to parasites
and he wished to say again that no man had
| a right to pe a parasite on the body social
even though it be wealthy ancestor:
though he inherited q fortune ne had no
right to Icy it idly by and do nothing with
! it.
HONORABLE OCCUPATIONS.
Any useful occupation is honorable. There
are great many foolish ideas and one Of the
most foolish is that trades ale degrading.
Some persons think that al muscular exeI-
ton except playing base bali or rowing is
degrading. The truth is that there is SC
much vanity in man that hu IS disposed to
look down ON all those around him. The
cook looks down on the waSheiwoman.
The house girl viii not associate
with the cook, and the nurse is a
queen compared with the house-rirl There
are grades all along the line. He did not
know but the dry goods clerk locked down
upon the grocery clerk, and he was sure the
bookkeeper regarded with pity the clerk
behind the counter measuring tape. He
understood that young men on Bay street
who had positions III cotton offices thought
they had reached the acme Q" cerkdom, and
that many of them would not think OF
changing their positions for stores of their
own in other lines of business IL the oppor-
tunity was offered them. Why was it more
honorable TO handle the weights and meas
ures of o grocer, or the yardsticll of dry
goods merchant, or the pen of boolikeeper
than sledge hammer, or the anvil of a shoe
lnakeli True, Il mechanic got his face black
and soilcd his clothes, but the SCOT did not
touch his soul; his character was as white
as ever, and water would take the dirt from
his face. He thought there was too much
disposition to shirk work and manual labor
now TO CHOOSE AN OCCUPATION.
Having settled il that any useful occu.
patton would honor a man if he would
honor it, he ~gauld say something TO young
men about choosing their occupations.
They should not look for ON opportunity 70
escape work; they should choose for the
future and not Cor the present
they should select something
that would give ample scope
for their faculties, and to DO this they
should ask God 10 direct them Few young
men thought Of that part Of it, but in this
serious matter they should ask as did Saul
Of Tarsus: Lord, what wouldst Thou have
mo dol" Having made choice of an occu-
patton, go prosecute 1t so as to glorify Him
Work as II thou hadst 10 live for aye;
WorshipaS II thou vert 10 die to-day"